January 2007 - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

only on govliquidation.com could this happen....

by legalize＠xmission.com

<http://cgi.govliquidation.com/auction/view?auctionId=1090219&convertTo=USD> Lot includes.... 1 PUNCHED PROGRAM TAPE - ok 50 FLEXIBLE DISK - ok 1 TYPING ELEMENT - ok ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 10 RECTAL SPECULUMS - what?!?! -- "The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/download/index.html> Legalize Adulthood! <http://blogs.xmission.com/legalize/>

19 years, 4 months

2
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govliq: 16 RP06 disk drives (Kapolei, HI)

by legalize＠xmission.com

<http://cgi.govliquidation.com/auction/view?auctionId=1095381&convertTo=USD> -- "The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/download/index.html> Legalize Adulthood! <http://blogs.xmission.com/legalize/>

19 years, 4 months

1
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HP 21MX/F and OS choices (was Lookee what I just got!)

by MGemeny＠pgcps.org

Should be TSB and IPL Bob, TSB assumes that it is the OS, so it is assuming that it ?owns? all of its peripherals, DMA and the Interrupt system as well. As long as these false assumptions are accounted for under IPL I would think that a single CPU TSB such as TSB E may run without many problems. The real problem comes with dual processor configurations of TSB. Ether processor can initiate communication to the other, although the Main is generally the one ?Calling the shots?. Ether way, they assume that their partner is listening attentively, and they don?t have much tolerance for a sluggish response. If ether one gives up on the other the result is DEATH. Under SIMH we had problems getting the timing right between the two virtual processors, but it does work, and on some platforms it still needs tweaking. On real hardware if you stop all user activity, you can get away with halting the Main processor, exploring memory from the front panel and pressing Run without causing a crash. But if any terminal were to strike a key while the Main was halted the IOP would give up on the main and die, when the main came back the IOP would be dead, so the Main would die too. If you try to halt the IOP with the system running the result is always death. I think that it may be the result of a lost clock interrupt, because we see the same thing under SIMH. TSB is rather particular about addresses of it IO devices, so running both processors on the same CPU may take a bit of creativity when allocating devices. The IOP of Access would give you the most flexibility, but it?s still rather strict. On the 2100 version of Access the IOP microcode went into the same sockets as the Main Processor?s floating point microcode so they were mutually exclusive and both required, but on the 21MX versions I think that was changed. So it may be possible to have both floating point instructions and IOP instructions in the same CPU. Although I seem to recall that the IOP instructions needed a stack pointer, and since they were not using some register of the memory subsystem they just used that register for the stack. I want to say that it was a ?memory fence register?, but I?m not sure. And the IMS that describes it refers only to the 2100a/s microcode, so I really don?t know what they did in the MX microcode. It?s possible that the IOP microcode for MX may interfere with something that IPL is counting on and Jay, Al, or Bob may be the best people to speak to that. Of course, this would only apply to real hardware, under SIMH the instructions are simulated without the constraints of the real hardware. It would be really cool if the interconnect kit (the channel between the two processors) could be virtual through IPL and perhaps even cause the change of context to running the other processor. The device drivers in the IOP are well organized, but the Main Processor is not. Sometimes it looks more like spaghetti code, with IO instructions all over the place in seemingly unrelated routines. (I?m sure they did that because they had both memory and CPU time constraints, ;-) None the less, my hat?s off to them. The last version of HP2000 Access had only one bug found in it that I am aware of. With that bug patched, I don?t think any other bug has ever been found. I don?t think I shall ever again see such perfection. On the special boot strap loader issue for Access, I don?t see it being a problem. We don?t use it or even load it under SIMH. We just let SIMH load the second half of the bootstrap paper tape image in low memory of the Main processor and start it. We also let SIMH load the whole image of a preconfigured IOP and start that. Sure someone could change the SIMH startup scripts to be absolutely true to the recommended boot procedures, but then again, a lot of these short cuts were well known back in the day of real production systems and we are trying to boot the system with minimal operator intervention. TSB E sounds like the place to start. Then I would try Access on two CPUs then each running under IPL. And finally Access with both running on the same CPU. If you decide to run tests with IPL and TSB under SIMH I would also caution that the simulated interconnect between the two processors has only (as far a I know) been working under Windoz. I think it has something to do with the ?Socket Connect? library code, which last I checked was only used by this device. Some day some other device may use it, and someone may take the time to fix it. But for now we are just so happy to be able to run dual CPU TSB that we put up with running it on Windoz. The quickest way to boot up a TSB E system is under SIMH. The URL for the ZIP is in the links section of the HP2000 Yahoo Group. The binaries are images of original HP paper tapes (Thanks, Al and Jeff), so they should be quite useable on real hardware if ported to a suitable media. Hope this helps, Mike Gemeny

19 years, 4 months

1
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a riviting topic

by blstuart＠bellsouth.net

Jay West wrote: > I've seen riviters working on F18's at Boeing, and it sure appears to be a > higher art form. Not sure it's something I could do, but thought I'd ask > here. I've seen all kinds of rivits - different sizes - on an H960 I believe > there are a couple? Anyways, what tools are required, where can one get > rivits, what different types are there, and is it something a neophyte like > me who has never done a rivit before can do? I'm looking for the basic intro > to replacing a rivit for someone who has never done it. There's a type of rivit called a pop rivit that I've used before. I get the impression that it's not as good a the sort used in manufacturing, but for this kind of purpose, I'd think it would do fine. The basic tool is a squeeze handle device. You take a rivit that has a shaft running trough it similar to a finishing nail with a bulge on the inside end of the rivit. You put the shaft into the riviting tool and insert the rivit into the hole. When you squeeze, it pulls the "nail" inward and the bulge streches a cylindrical part of the rivit pressing it against the back side. Then the tool cuts the "nail" and the two pieces are tossed. What's left is the rivit pressed in place. I think most tool shops carry these as well as supplies of the rivits. BLS

19 years, 4 months

5
4
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DEC beige/creame/white paint

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

I have the top panel of an 11X44 that is pretty scuffed up and needs some paint. That's the white/beige/creame color on the DEC "corporate cabinets" (not H960's). It is also the same color as the front of an RL01, RL02, RAxx, etc. Before someone says "just mount the RL0x at the top", that wouldn't be appropriate since this is an 11X44 configuration (11/44 cpu at the top with a full length door under it that has an opening for two TU58 tapes). The scuffs on the top panel are pretty bad so just a "paint stick" type of approach won't help. I'm going to be looking at wax & grease remover, sanding, self-etching primer, chipguard, and paint. What fun. In addition, I also have a lot of tiny touchup spots on various boxes - mostly the front of RL0x's - that needs just a tiny "paint stick" type of approach. So I took the panel into a metal paint shop in town well known for their expertise to see about getting the paint matched. They said that since the top is textured, the peaks & valleys will look brighter/darker and thus you can't put a piece like that on one of those optical scanners and get a good color match. They said it may give a starting point but it'd have to be matched by hand (eye) because of the type of textured surface the panel has. To come up with an exact match paint (done by hand/eye), I could get a quart for $50.00 USD. Then from that quart I could have spray cans made (they put custom paint in spray cans) at $7.00 each. I would envision having perhaps a can or two made for spraying, and leave the rest in the quart container for "paint stick" type of touchups - when there's a small scratch that just needs to be dabbed with a matchstick, etc. Since I know absolutely NOTHING about paint/painting, I wanted to toss this out on the list to see if what this place is suggesting sounds right, and if the prices seem reasonable. If so, then I also wanted to offer some spray cans of the paint to other listmembers to help defray the cost for myself. I know that one can probably buy a color that is sortof close right off the shelf, but I'd rather have an exact match... Thoughts? Jay West

19 years, 4 months

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a riviting topic

by blstuart＠bellsouth.net

> Is rivit a US variation or a typo? (it's 'rivet' this side of the pond) You should probably put your money on typo. Checking with google seems to confirm that. > Anyhoo... agreed that for this kind of work it should be fine. The tool needed > should cost virtually nothing (I'd certainly expect it to be less than $10US) > and is really easy to work with. While I was checking the spelling, I notice that wikipedia mentions another name for pop rivets is blind rivets. > I've always wondered how the massive rivets on ships are put in, in particular > how on earth they get them to also be watertight around the hole! I normally can't think that hard on a Friday :-) BLS

19 years, 4 months

3
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45 Apple IIe's available in San Antonio

by mtapley＠swri.edu

At 11:30 -0600 1/12/07, George Currie wrote: >Someone in San Antonio has 45+ IIe's plus accessories for sale. Here is >the url for his Craigslist ad: > >http://austin.craigslist.org/sys/261497853.html > Wow. Almost a supercomputer of Apple-IIe's, if only we had the networking. ;-) I'm in San Antonio. I have an Apple-II, and don't have the skills to be in the computer-refurb/sales business, so I'll pass on this for myself, but if help is needed with pickup or shipping, let me know. -- Mark Tapley, Dwarf Engineer (I haven't cleared my neighborhood) 210-379-4635 Dwarf Phone, 210-522-6025 Office Phone

19 years, 4 months

1
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Strange disk controller in my new 8/A

by v.slyngstad＠verizon.net

Hi, I recently received my new PDP-8/A that I bought on eBay. The good news is that it arrived in useable condition, and comes with a 10Mb disk drive (Shugart 4004) and high-speed paper tape reader. The bad news seems to be that the software is all specific to the machine's former life as a CNC machine controller (MM180). The configuration seems to start with a standard 8/E cpu with EAE in the 8/A chassis with 32K of memory and the usual option cards. But for the disk and tape (which were the exciting parts, for me), there is a 3-card set with a 6800 on it that controls the disk, the paper tape reader, the CNC servos, and a bunch of other stuff. Effectively, all the non-console I/O is given over to the 6800 as a kind of I/O processor. Anyone have any experience with these? The 6800 board is KT (Kearney & Trecker) 1-20410, the board with the PIO chips is KT 1-20411, and the disk interface board is KT 1-20666. Thanks, Vince

19 years, 4 months

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45 Apple IIe's available in San Antonio

by g＠kurico.com

Someone in San Antonio has 45+ IIe's plus accessories for sale. Here is the url for his Craigslist ad: http://austin.craigslist.org/sys/261497853.html

19 years, 4 months

1
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Compuserve wayback machine

by jbdigriz＠dragonsweb.org

The message below is from August of last year. I just tried and got the old familiar CIS user ID prompt. Still can't remember mine, though. http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ti99-4a/message/44436 jbdigriz

19 years, 4 months

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wall wart for TI-58-C

by RLAAG＠PACBELL.NET

I got a TI 58-c calculator a while back but there was no transformer with it... I was hoping someone would have one and could give me the specs on it and if it plugs into the calculator in either rotation... thanks, bob laag

19 years, 4 months

3
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Another Interesting Site

by Billy.Pettit＠wdc.com

Multics History Site - includes a few software notes. Gotta be a few people on thie list who remember.... Billy http://www.multicians.org/multics.html

19 years, 4 months

8
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Lookee what I just got!

by wizard＠voyager.net

Hello, Jay, especially, but any other HP types, Well, I went and did it. I am now the proud owner of an HP-2117F, if I can identify it correctly, shown here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320067174880 ... and, FPU, shown here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320067174671 My experience with the HP 1000 series machines is, almost exclusively, programming them in TSB on HP-200B, C, and F systems, many moons ago. Jay, you seem to be an alpha geek when it comes to HP iron. (A term of respect, no offense intended...) So, could you look at the above auctions, and tell me what I need to make a good system. Obviously, a disk system comes to mind... but, if you could be specific, I would appreciate it. Also, what are the chances of this being a suitable machine to run Time-Share BASIC, or TSB? I imagine I would need microcode boards or ROM for the microcode boards already there, but, for all I know, it already *IS* a TSB machine. Thanks for your consideration. Peace, Warren E. Wolfe wizard at voyager.net

19 years, 4 months

5
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wall wart for TI-58-C

by trag＠io.com

>Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2007 22:10:26 -0800 >From: BOB LAAG <RLAAG at PACBELL.NET> >I got a TI 58-c calculator a while back but there was no transformer >with it... I was hoping someone would have one and could give me the >specs on it and if it plugs into the calculator in either rotation... >thanks, bob laag If the TI 58-c is the same or similar to the old TI-58 which was the same as the TI-59 but without the card reader and half the memory, then it is TI Model AC-9131, 3.3VAC 500mA. In other words, the above AC adapter is for a TI-59 ca. 1979. It shouldn't matter which way it's connected, because it is an AC adapter. Inside the battery compartment of the TI-59 you can see the four diodes of the bridge rectifier. Jeff Walther

19 years, 4 months

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DEC beige/creame/white paint

by Billy.Pettit＠wdc.com

Chuck Guzis wrote: There used to be a "rattle can" textured finish that deposited various-sized blobs of differently-colored paint. I wonder if this might be a close texture (used as an undercoat). When repairing fiberglass-resin cases, a bit of foam rubber (such as that used to pack old hard drives) works pretty well for giving things a fine texture. Cheers, Chuck ----------------------------------- And these days, you can get a spare can of almost any texture you want at Home Depot or Lowe's. I've tried some of the "orange peel" with good results to match the old crackle texture. I agree it's not the best but it is hard to pick out without very close examination. So far, no problems with it coming off either (knock on wood!) Billy

19 years, 4 months

1
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Archiving workstation hard drives

by ken＠seefried.com

[catching up a bit] > Ideally though you're going to need to determine the model of HD, and get > some extras. Ideally, yes, but I've found that's not always required in practice (in admittedly limited experience). I've successfully dd'ed a couple of old SCSI drives to larger SCSI drives and was able to boot & run without issue (other than the wasted space). I suspect it works because SCSI hides many low-level details. I certainly didn't test all the boundary cases, so there certainly might be gotchas if you used the duped disk extensively or in production. On my VME532 machine, I dd'ed the ~150MB Maxtor ESDI drive to a ~300MB Maxtor and it boots fine from the larger, half-wasted drive. I wouldn't count on it working with another vendors drive, or for all permutations of ESDI controllers. YMMV. Ken

19 years, 4 months

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ISO: Everex DC2000 tape drive

by cclist＠sydex.com

Does anyone have a working Everex DC-2000 floppy-tape drive they want to part with? I checked ePay, but didn't find anything. Drop me an email and name your terms. Thanks, Chuck

19 years, 4 months

2
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Victor 9000 boot floppy, was RE: laptops and 5.25 inch floppy drives?

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> I've just uploaded scans of the Tech Ref and several other tech docs > to http://bitsavers.org/pdf/victor/victor9000 I just noticed that the figures are all missing in the tech ref. Most wouldn't matter, but the sector format of the floppy would be nice to have documented. Does anyone have the details of this (actual sync pattern, etc.)?

19 years, 4 months

2
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Needed: Someone to fix an 8/E in TX/USA 77385

by root＠parse.com

Hi folks, I received an email from an individual who is looking for someone to help fix their 8/E and possibly their paper tape punch unit. Yes, there is still an 8/E out there doing useful work -- well up until a few days ago, anyway :-) If you are interested, available, etc. send me an email to info2007 at parse.com and I'll put you in touch, and you can discuss rates etc. (I have various ISPs blocked due to excessive spam; +1 613 599 8318 9am to 9pm and leave a message if you can't get through). Cheers, -RK -- Robert Krten, PARSE Software Devices, http://www.parse.com/resume.html Wanted: DEC minis: http://www.parse.com/~museum/admin/wanted.html

19 years, 4 months

1
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wall wart for TI-58-C

by mtapley＠swri.edu

Bob et al, the plug is polarized, so I assumed there's diodes in the wall-wart. Mine (TI-59, should be same) is at home and I'm not, so I'm not able to give better first-hand info before tomorrow, but http://xgistor-echo.ath.cx/files/TI59/ has much useful info. I commend the TI59_PSU.zip file to you in particular. Let me know if you want measurements off of my wall-wart(s). I think I can arrange that. At 12:00 -0600 1/11/07, Bob Laag wrote: >Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2007 22:10:26 -0800 >From: BOB LAAG <RLAAG at PACBELL.NET> >Subject: wall wart for TI-58-C > >I got a TI 58-c calculator a while back but there was no transformer >with it... I was hoping someone would have one and could give me the >specs on it and if it plugs into the calculator in either rotation... >thanks, bob laag -- Mark Tapley, Dwarf Engineer (I haven't cleared my neighborhood) 210-379-4635 Dwarf Phone, 210-522-6025 Office Phone

19 years, 4 months

1
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"kinetic systems minicrate"

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> I stumbled across this on an auction site. It looks like a cardcage, > but for what? Kinetic Systems made CAMAC crates and boards.

19 years, 4 months

4
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Cleaning House

by marvin＠rain.org

I probably should mention that stuff has been sold at VCF that was originally listed on VCM. I tried to remove most of it from VCM, but there are still a few items that I missed. My apologies for any inconveniences there!!! Marvin

19 years, 4 months

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Cleaning House

by marvin＠rain.org

It is looking more and more like I'll have to move and thus have a ****<<<LOT>>>**** (ask Hans) of stuff that needs to be tossed, sold, or stored. I'll be putting stuff on VCM and Ebay to 1) see if I can still make enough money to buy this house, and 2) reduce the clutter :). This will be a continuing effort for the next several weeks and I'll be listing more stuff daily. Off topic for VCM and maybe of interest here, I have a couple hundred Belkin NOS Cat5 (not Cat5/e) cables w/RJ-45 ends. They are bagged as 10 sets per bag and I have 30", 42", and 48" available at $10.00/bag plus $6.50 Priority Mail US shipping. Email me offlist if interested. Check out VCM and Ebay (ID=KE6HTS) for the stuff I am getting rid of. Thanks!

19 years, 4 months

4
5
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Compuserve wayback machine

by tim＠tim-mann.org

On Wed, 10 Jan 2007 12:00:45 -0600 (CST), cctech-request at classiccmp.org wrote: > ate: Wed, 10 Jan 2007 09:52:51 -0800 (PST) > From: "Zane H. Healy" <healyzh at aracnet.com> > Subject: Re: Compuserve wayback machine > To: cctalk at classiccmp.org > Message-ID: <200701101752.l0AHqpJr014860 at onyx.spiritone.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > > James B. DiGriz wrote: > > > The message below is from August of last year. I just tried and got the > > > old familiar CIS user ID prompt. Still can't remember mine, though. > > > > > > http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ti99-4a/message/44436 > > > > I *so* wish I could remember mine. > > > > Peace... Sridhar > > > > It wasn't hard to find my CIS ID, however, I don't remember my password. > Besides, I've not had an active account since sometime around late '93 most > likely, so I kind of doubt I'd actually be able to log in. Cool, I just tried this and actually remembered my old password (!). I got the following message. Note the "Last access" date. CompuServe Information Service 02:03 EST Thursday 11-Jan-2007 Last access: 20:00 28-Sep-98 Copyright (c) 2007 CompuServe Incorporated All Rights Reserved One moment please ... Thank you for signing on! Our records show that you once were a CompuServe member. Please call your local CompuServe Customer Service to re-activate your CompuServe account [70040,504] or use 'Sign-up' to set up a new account. 1-800-848-8990 (US and Canada) All other countries, please contact your local sales/service office. Thank you for using CompuServe! Off at 02:04 EST 11-Jan-07 Connect time = 0:01 Connection closed by foreign host. -- Tim Mann tim at tim-mann.org http://tim-mann.org/

19 years, 4 months

1
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floppies

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> what's the expected > remaining lifetime of a floppy? Time is probably of the essence Chuck and Fred have more experience, but I'm assuming once they're in a stable temp/humidity environment they should be ok for another 10 years. The stuff I'm dealing with now is stuff WAY past its shelf live (20-30 year old tapes). I've read hundreds of floppies over the past five years or so, and the only problems I've had have been with 70's 8" media that was stored in poor conditions where the oxide strips off upon head contact, and the common problem with all head-contact media of oxide/binder buildup reducing the signal level off the head. I absolutely agree that the discs should be copied in image format.

19 years, 4 months

4
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HP 21xx

by ken＠seefried.com

Marathon HP Mini knowledge dump makes me want one. Very much. This cannot end well...

19 years, 4 months

4
4
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Compuserve wayback machine

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

On 1/10/07, Zane H. Healy <healyzh at aracnet.com> wrote: > There is a web server for TOPS-20, however, I believe only a couple > sites were running it and the last ones running it have stopped due > to some serious security flaws. That it exists is mildly surprising. That it has security flaws (i.e., is old and exploited, not that it's obviously sloppily written) is not so surprising. > From what I've heard there isn't enough interest in patching them. That is unsurprising at all. -ethan

19 years, 4 months

1
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Beehive Topper (was: laptops and 5.25 inch floppy drives?)

by aek＠bitsavers.org

>> I have many hundreds of "alien" diskettes that were to go to him when I >> blue-screen. Now I don't know who to will them to. > Same here--probably nobody. My collection's a little unusual in that > it has a lot of embedded systems diskettes in it, for everything from > a CNC EDM machine, to embroidery machines to electron microscopes to > a cardiac monitor. Interesting, but who needs this kind of stuff > anymore? Someone who still owns one of these devices. Really more of an issue for software for test equipment, though, since that kind of stuff has a longer useful life (assuming the floppy for it doesn't get lost..)

19 years, 4 months

1
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floppies

by aek＠bitsavers.org

> it's nice that the stuff ends up with a museum where > lots of people can see it Another minor point is it is probably unlikely that ANYONE other than archivists would see the physical discs unless there is something really unique about how they look. The important thing to preserve is their contents.

19 years, 4 months

1
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floppies

by aek＠bitsavers.org

>> > Amen. Just this week, I found the envelope for the Kaypro disk he >> > sent me years ago. > > I have many hundreds of "alien" diskettes that were to go to him when > I blue-screen. Now I don't know who to will them to. There's always CHM. I may not get to them, but my successors will.

19 years, 4 months

2
1
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Looking for older Cisco PIX-520 images

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

I have this recently acquired PIX-520 with what seems to be an entirely *blank* FLASH boot card. The machine is so clean inside - not a speck of dust - that I think it may be a NIB unit that someone decided to disgorge onto eBay last summer. It goes through the usual PC-ish boot dialogs (there's an Intel Pentium board inside, with 3 Intel NICs and a 3.5" floppy as the only peripherals besides the boot board), but when all the PC stuff is done, the unit acts dead - no traffic on the serial port that I can see, no text on the (installed by me for debugging) video. I'd try the Cisco site, but besides lacking a current log-in, from reading some of the firewall mailing list entries about older PIX OS files, it seems that Cisco may have purged some of what I'm looking for. If anyone happens to have any archived files from older versions (pre 6.x) of PIX OS and the attendant boot helper files (secondary bootstraps), please contact me *off list* if you are willing to share. For starters, I'd love to find a file like bh510.bin, bh512.bh or bh514.bin, which are various versions of the "boot helper" for the less-obsolete versions of the OS. If I had a boot helper file written to floppy, I should be able to at least see some activity related to it _trying_ to install the OS. Thanks, -ethan

19 years, 4 months

1
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Fwd: Microvax IIs in BA123s

by legalize＠xmission.com

FYI... I'm just passing this along, please contact the original poster. -- "The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/download/index.html> Legalize Adulthood! <http://blogs.xmission.com/legalize/> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 08 Jan 2007 21:19:01 GMT Groups: comp.sys.dec,comp.os.vms,comp.sys.dec.micro,alt.sys.pdp11,vmsnet .pdp-11 From: Jeff Shirley <spamalot at mindspring.com> Reply-To: spamalot at mindspring.com Subject: MicroVAX IIs/BA123s in Demand? Id: <9zyoh.8847$w91.8571 at newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net> --------- Greetings. I have a couple of MicroVAX II systems in BA123 boxes I would like to sell, hopefully to hobbyists rather than the local scrap guy. My question is whether it might make more sense to just pull the boards and cabinet kits, and scrap the BA123 enclosures. The first system has fairly standard components, a KA630 (M7606-AF), two 4MB boards (M7608-BP), a pair of DHV11s (M3104), a DELQA (M7516), RQDX3 (M7555), TQK50 (M7546), RD53, TK50, and a pair of boards from Ultimate Computer Corporation. I think the second system has some more interesting parts, like a pair of ESDI dives and a Pertec tape drive interface. The first system weighed in at 125 pounds, which would cost upwards of $150 to ship across the country from (from the Los Angeles area). I just do not know if there is any demand for the old BA123s in the hobbyist community. Opinions? Jeff. P.S. Apologies to the PDP-11 groups for the crossposts. P.P.S. This old DEC hardware amazes me. I hooked a VT220 to the first system described above, and powered it up. It booted right up with MicroVMS V4.7, circa 1987. -- Jeff Shirley spamalot at mindspring.com "Bill Gates is filthy rich, but that doesn't mean I want to be married to him."

19 years, 4 months

8
8
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replacing a dc005? (qbus chip)

by brad＠heeltoe.com

One of my rqdx3 boards suffered a trauma in a previous life and one of the "DC005" chips at the bottom cracked in half. Needless to say the board does not work. I removed the old chip, but what now? Does anyone have a spare DC005 or know of a suitable replacement? I assume this is one of the magic DEC chips for qbus. I suppose I could try extracting one from another board, but that is pretty painful... dips are easier to get out if you can snip their leads. -brad

19 years, 4 months

4
3
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Terminals (was Re: Paul Allen's DECsystem-10)

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

On 1/10/07, woodelf <bfranchuk at jetnet.ab.ca> wrote: > I just got ADVENT running on my SBC6120 only to discover the terminal > I am using has a flakey keyboard. Bummer. > Just what do you use for a termial with the SBC6120? For times when I need to move files (like programming the Flash on my IOB6120), I use a Linux box and Kermit and whatever keyboard is on the Linux box (laptop or desktop). For real terminal use, lately, I've been using mostly LK201s on DEC terminals, and whatever keyboard is handy for my Planar ELT-320, a 9" orange-screen electroluminescent wee terminal that takes both PS/2 keyboards and DEC LK201 keyboards. Since the terminal is so small, I like to use my Happy Hacking PS/2 keyboard with it - the whole arrangement is smaller than many laptops. The heaviest part is the slug of metal in the base of the terminal to keep the screen from tipping over (I also have a wall-mount case for another ELT-320 with no base). So... depending on platform, a DEC LK201 or some random PS/2 keyboard (Keytronics are nice) -ethan

19 years, 4 months

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"kinetic systems minicrate"

by legalize＠xmission.com

I stumbled across this on an auction site. It looks like a cardcage, but for what? Is it some kind of process control enclosure? -- "The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/download/index.html> Legalize Adulthood! <http://blogs.xmission.com/legalize/>

19 years, 4 months

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Gateway destination - is it on topic?

by alexandre-listas＠e-secure.com.br

Is the gateway destination old enough to be on topic? :) Well, I'm in need of a radio reciver of a gateway destination keyboard. Anyone wanting to part with that? :) Thanks! Alexandre

19 years, 4 months

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Most expensive terminal I've seen on ebay...

by legalize＠xmission.com

OK, this blows the compucolor frenzy out of the water, folks... Item # 270073780561 Authentic Altair Compter Single Line Terminal $2,800.00 with 8 bids. -- "The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/download/index.html> Legalize Adulthood! <http://blogs.xmission.com/legalize/>

19 years, 4 months

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Mouse for Tektronix 4105/4205 terminals?

by legalize＠xmission.com

I didn't know this until I acquired some of these, but the keyboards have a mouse port on the back; it looks like a standard serial 9-pin connector and it has "MOUSE" labelled above it. However, I have yet to find any documentation on the pinout or electrical/comm specifications for the mouse. Does anyone recall having a mouse hooked up to their Tektronix 4105/4205 and what kind of connection it had? -- "The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/download/index.html> Legalize Adulthood! <http://blogs.xmission.com/legalize/>

19 years, 4 months

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Paul Allen's DECsystem-10

by legalize＠xmission.com

Is anyone else using this machine? I was thinking of getting ADVENT running on it. -- "The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/download/index.html> Legalize Adulthood! <http://blogs.xmission.com/legalize/>

19 years, 4 months

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Cleaning House

by marvin＠rain.org

> I know how to look up all the items a given seller is selling on ebay... but > I seem to be too brain-dead to see how to do that on vcm. Can someone > enlighten me? > > Jay I don't know if there is an easier way, but click on one of anyones items, and below the listing is a link to "seller's other Ads", in my case "marvin's other Ads." Also, I have quite a bit of HP stuff I have no need of that I just can't get to ... yet :) ... hp-8x, display terminal (bad screen rot), keyboards, printers, drives, and I don't know what else :).

19 years, 4 months

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OT but help rqd: website compromise

by witchy＠binarydinosaurs.co.uk

Hi folks, Seems like my webserver was hacked on xmas eve by someone who managed to install a 'nice' little script called c99shell; fortunately they left their IP address kicking around and it resolves to a company called Staminus Communications in Fullerton, CA. Since the majority of this list is US based can anyone tell me if it's worth flinging them a message to abuse@ giving the culprit's IP address? I've already told my ISP over here but I doubt anything will happen. Message me off list if possible please, Jay, apols for the off-topic noise! -- Adrian/Witchy Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator Www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UK's biggest private home computer collection?

19 years, 4 months

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(somewhat OT) " Apple Computer, Inc." no more

by r_a_feldman＠hotmail.com

Jobs has announced a name change: "SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs on Tuesday made the company's long-awaited jump into the mobile phone business and renamed the company to just "Apple Inc.," reflecting its increasing focus on consumer electronics. He said the name change is meant to reflect the fact that Apple has matured >from a computer manufacturer to a full-fledged consumer electronics company." I wonder if "devolved" or "degraded" might better describe the change than "matured". Bob _________________________________________________________________ Get live scores and news about your team: Add the Live.com Football Page www.live.com/?addtemplate=football&icid=T001MSN30A0701

19 years, 4 months

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govliq: mux and 26MB BAE/xerox hard drives

by legalize＠xmission.com

I don't recognize the hard drives depicted here; they look like cartridge drives? Govliq says they're all in brand new condition. <http://cgi.govliquidation.com/auction/view?auctionId=1088965&convertTo=USD> -- "The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/download/index.html> Legalize Adulthood! <http://blogs.xmission.com/legalize/>

19 years, 4 months

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Sun plastics

by compoobah＠valleyimplants.com

Has anyone had success fixing the plastic "alloy" that Sun uses in their cases? MEK and cyanoacrylate turn it into a mushy grainy mess.

19 years, 4 months

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36-bits, no waiting (was Re: Paul Allen's DECsystem-10)

by ethan.dicks＠gmail.com

On 1/10/07, Brad Pritts <bpritts at pritts.com> wrote: > Well, we used lots of PDP-10's in the timesharing... business in > the '70's and '80's. By the late '80's this business was dying fast. But it was fun. Indeed. > Yes, Compuserve was a big player... There are still 36-bit machines (Systems Concepts SC-40s, IIRC) running in Columbus at what _used_ to be called CompuServe Headquarters (now just another AOL campus :-/ ) They got rid of the DEC-manufactured machines well over 10 years ago, but still run their endlessly hacked version of TOPS-10 on real (not emulated) 36-bit hardware. I haven't seen them since 2003, but at that time, there were more SC machines at the WorldCom data center in Hilliard, OH (at what was _going to be_ CompuServe Headquarters before the company was bought and divided). I was told that WorldCom had to keep them running for some obscure billing app that was written in FORTRAN and couldn't be ported (or at least had been the subject of several failed attempts to port). Given the history of things, I would think it was full of CompuServe extensions, perhaps what they called XF4, perhaps something descended from that. So in Central Ohio, at least, 36-bits survived into the 21st Century for commercial usage. Personally, the last "productive" thing I did was to run Zork under the Panda distro of klh10/TOPS-20. I used to have a 36-bit account when I worked at CompuServe, but they'd cleaned all the old "service" menus and items off before I started there - it was an empty shell of its former glory by 2001. -ethan

19 years, 4 months

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getting started with your new HP 21xx

by jwest＠ezwind.net

It just dawned on me something that might be helpful... a quick list of the most relevant documents to look at first when you get your first HP 21xx box. Fortunately, Al at bitsavers has made a concerted effort to put up docs for these boxes, there's a lot of good info there - probably everything you'd ever need. Here are the manuals I'd suggest getting first.... For the hardware..... If you read nothing else, here's the one to read even for folks just curious what these boxes are. Very short (50 pages), quick read, but informative: Whoops... wow, apparently there's no 21MX E or 21MX F short user guide on bitsavers. Wierd! So there's no step by step tutorial on how to use the front panel, etc. My best suggestion - skim the 2100A user guide. The front panel is much different, but the instruction set (a subset), I/O architecture, etc. is pretty much the same. The main difference to keep in mind... the MX's have a store button. Use it :) 2100's autostore if you incM or decM or select a different register (select the register you're already viewing to revert contents). The 2100 doesn't have loader roms cause it's core (so MX's have a IBL button to load a given rom into upper ram). I need to get Al a 21MX E or F short user guide to put up on bitsavers, that's a big omission. The 2100 variant is here: http://bitsavers.vt100.net/hp/21xx/02100-90001_2100refManDec71.pdf this will get you the basics of your machine. Next essential reading to learn about setting up & configuring your machine... http://bitsavers.vt100.net/hp/1000/12992-90001_loaderRomsApr86.pdf describes what loader roms are, what they do, how to install them, including source code listings. Essential for learning all about booting your machine. http://bitsavers.vt100.net/hp/1000/12791-90001_fwInstRef_Feb86.pdf describes what firmware exists, what boards exist for you to install firmware in to, and how to do so. Includes not just firmware options, but base set firmware as well. You'll need this, it's the second thing to check if your machine doesn't boot. http://bitsavers.vt100.net/hp/1000/5955-4310_stdPerfMem_Apr79.pdf describes the different memory boards & controllers & accesories, how to configure/jumper them and how to install them. Standard Performance memory only. One of the first things to check and change. http://bitsavers.vt100.net/hp/1000/5955-4311_highPerfMem_Dec83.pdf same as above, but for High Performance memory. For any interface boards in the rear of the computer, see the manuals here: http://bitsavers.vt100.net/hp/21xx/interfaces/ Now... the heavy duty everything you could possibly need in the future definitive reference.... http://bitsavers.vt100.net/hp/1000/1000_MEF_EngrRef/ For diagnostics: http://bitsavers.vt100.net/hp/1000/Diagnostics/02100-90157_Oct-1980.pdf This is the diagnostic configurator manual. It's the program used to load all other diagnostics. Learn this one well. Note - older diagnostics exist that are standalone. Some (not all) standalones CAN run under the diagnostic configurator. I'd suggest just learning the configurator and sticking to the diagnostics which run under it (all are available). http://bitsavers.vt100.net/hp/1000/Diagnostics/ is the main directory of diagnostic manuals. Each diagnostic has it's own manual. Note: HP diagnostics are (apparently) unlike DEC diagnostics for the 11/45 (my own experience, not neccessarily universal fact). The HP diagnostics work, and work well/right/AsDocumented. They are extremely thorough. They ARE the best and recommended test for if a given card is working properly before proceeding to attempt running anything else. If a card doesn't pass diags, DONT bother trying to use an OS/application to test it. If the card doesn't seem to work with the application, the diags ARE the best way to troubleshoot. They often tell you what section (or chip) on a card is suspect. The diag manuals on bitsavers aren't the complete set, nor the latest set. I have been working for some time on putting together a CD that contains the entire latest (last) diagnostic library for HP1000 stuff, including all manuals, source code, object code, and assembler output listings (with memory addresses). That will fix the above lack of info :) Once you have general 2100/21MX knowledge under your belt from the above, if there is just one manual you should keep handy... it's the ce handbook. It's a quick-reference cheat sheet on most of the above manuals. At least in the CE handbooks I have, little attempt is made to explain anything. It's just quick reference for jumpers, installation, etc. Note that it also includes quick reference information for many operating systems & software. The link is: http://bitsavers.vt100.net/hp/1000/5950-3767_M-E-F_CEhbk_Jul84.pdf For operating systems: TSB: http://bitsavers.vt100.net/hp/2000TSB/ contains the starting point for the documentation you'll need/want. RTE: http://bitsavers.vt100.net/hp/1000/RTE-IV/ http://bitsavers.vt100.net/hp/1000/RTE-IVB/ http://bitsavers.vt100.net/hp/1000/RTE-6VM/ HP-IPL/OS: http://www.infionline.net/~wtnewton/oldcomp/hp2100/ Hope this all helps! Jay West

19 years, 4 months

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(somewhat OT) "Apple Computer, Inc." no more

by ken＠seefried.com

From: Scott Quinn <compoobah at valleyimplants.com> >Pat wrote: > > On Tuesday 09 January 2007 21:16, Richard wrote: >> In article <2c9905e7a0917a23c18369f94e997689 at valleyimplants.com>, >>> Especially interesting given the scorn that the DEC-VAX agreement >>> from the '70s had. >> >> Come again? That reads like a total non sequitur to me. > > He's probably referring to the agreement that DEC had with the company > that makes VAX vacuum cleaners, for both of them to be able to use > the "VAX" name for their respective products, in each other's country. > >As I understand it, DEC agreed not to make consumer goods, and VAX >agreed not to make computers. To an adolescent mind back in the mid >'90s it seemed a bit absurd and a waste of time, but maybe not so much >anymore. See: Apple Computer v Apple Corp

19 years, 4 months

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KLESI-UA cable help?

by jwest＠classiccmp.org

I'm looking for the cable that goes from a KLESI-UA card (M8739) to the I/O bulkhead on the back of an 11X44. In the absence of that, would anyone know for sure the part number for said cable? I would think it would be in the KLESI manual, but I don't seem to see one on bitsavers (other than prints for the Qbus version). Thanks in advance! Jay West

19 years, 4 months

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refurb qic capstans on eBay

by aek＠bitsavers.org

fyi http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200037680044

19 years, 4 months

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Cleaning House

by marvin＠rain.org

> From: Richard <legalize at xmission.com> > > Ah, so the mystery of who this "marvin" guy is, is finally solved! :-) > > Seriously. > > I have looked at a *lot* of your adds on vintage computer marketplace :) Thanks! If everything that I sold or tried to sell on VCM, VCF, Ebay sold, it wouldn't make a dent ... at least that I would be able to see :). I could put up several thousand items, and that *might* start to make a dent. The problem there is listing and packing time. I would *really* like to play with some of this stuff, but it is just too much stuff right now. Marvin

19 years, 4 months

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test-drb January 2007